Church of the Vladimir Icon of the Virgin Mary

The Church of the Vladimir Icon of the Virgin Mary is located in the Vladimir Skete, which was created on the site of one of the most important events in the history of Russia: Standing on the Ugra River in 1480. Here you can visit the Museum-Diorama of the Great Standing on the Ugra River, and then go directly to the place where the Russian and Horde troops stood. 

In the center of the skete in front of the Church of the Vladimir Icon of the Virgin Mary in 2012, a monument to Prince Ivan III was erected. The church is dedicated to one of the most revered icons in Russia: the Vladimir’s Icon of the Virgin Mary. This is the oldest surviving icon in Russia. Its authorship is attributed to the Evangelist Luke, and the icon was brought to Russia in the 12th century as a gift to the Kiev Prince Mstislav from the Byzantine emperor. Later, it was kept for several centuries in the Assumption Cathedral of Vladimir. 

In 1480, having learned that the khan of the Horde had marched with his army on a military campaign against Moscow, the Russian Patriarch Gerontius blessed to transfer the Icon of the Vladimir Virgin Mary from Vladimir to Moscow. It was placed in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Its construction was completed in 1479, a year before the invasion of Akhmat Khan. 

During the military campaign, prayer services were held every day in front of the icon of the Virgin Mary of Vladimir. Prince Ivan III made cordons on the Oka River, and Khan Akhmat could not cross it. As a result, he was forced to go to the Ugra River to three fords, which are located between the villages of Dvortsy and Kamelgino. The army of Ivan III became in this place a solid line on the Bank of the Ugra for 60 kilometers and prevented the crossing of the Horde army across the river to the territory of the Moscow Principality. Khan Akhmat did not dare to cross the Ugra and with the onset of cold weather went back to the Horde. 

Russian people in those years were very religious. They believed that prayers in front of the Vladimir Icon of the Virgin Mary also helped to defeat the army of Khan Akhmat, so the church in the skete on the bank of the Ugra River is dedicated to it.